Wargaming

Hobby blog #6: Oldhammer is Best Hammer

I got two months of hobby action to crammed into this one. No time for a cute opening, let’s get down to it.

Mordheim

The Gentlemen of Mordheim

These two guys were in the haul of miniatures I found at my parents’ home. The slayer is one of the most iconic figures in all of Warhammer and I had to have one as a mercenary. The halfling is a lovely model: dopey, pot-bellied and fantastic. I painted them up in a classic style, just following the sculpts and keeping it simple.

Points of Interest

I like building little things to sprinkle in amongst the big buildings of Mordheim to keep things interesting. I can build them quickly and try things out in low-stakes that don’t matter if they come out a bit wonky. For this one I had a bunch of Q-tips from my oil painting extravaganzas so I cut them down a bit and used them as the bars on the cage. Then it was bits of wood and toilet paper soaked in PVA glue to make the frame/ roof. I then painted up and imprisoned a toy crab and gave it a leg I had lying around as some dinner. Mordehim is a muddy, river city with fish everywhere. I don’t see why it would have mud crabs that got a bit warpstoned.

40K

Chaos

I went back to the UK for Christmas which meant I was able to take another run at the stored miniatures at my folks’ place. I found an old metal Chaos terminator lord. I loved the wires and pipes at the back of his helmet. They said, ‘Butcher’s Nails’ to me so I thought I’d paint him up as a World Eater.

I had wanted to try out some of the techniques in the Not Just Mecha Blanchitsu video for some time. It seemed like an approach to painting I could get behind. I gave it a shot using a really limited set of base colours, and then red, brown, and black oil paint washes to stain the miniature and add deep, grimy shadows in the recesses. Then I touched up a little bit with acrylics, added a few limited blood spots and additional grime, and used pigments to tie him into his base.

I adore how he came out. The whole less-is-more works for me and I think he looks heavy and dangerous.

Sisters

Enough of this heresy. Time to return to the light of the emperor.

In my second round of looting, I found some old space marine Rhinos. They obviously would fit into a Sisters list nicely from a rules point of view. However, the Sisters’ tanks are very heavy on the ornate trimmings and details that these old space marines had no interest in. So, I set about Gothicizing them up.

I started with some candles and chains, important parts of showing your faithfulness. Then I took some bits from an old Bretonnian set. The royal French/streamers-in-the-wind look of the Bretonnians fits in with the Sisters’ style quite well. I was getting somewhere, but it still didn’t look like a Sisters Rhino.

Then I saw the new posters from Underhive Art. They couldn’t have fit better. I loved the idea that the Sisters had got these pictures like a nutjob roadside preacher, pasted them to bits of wood and put them on the tank and drove it around like a kitsch, dirty, diesel belching shrine. I could have gone more over the top with all the details, but I am happy that the original form of the Rhino is still clear.

Abbess Lisette

She was built using one of the figures from the Triumph of St. Katherine kit, and the arms from a Cawdor Redemptionist. It was a pretty simple transplant. I wish the pose had been a bit more dynamic, but I was quite limited with where I could place them. I painted her up like the rest of the Sisters but gave her a big red cloak to make her stand out from the others. A vanity I suppose, but her piety will shame any critics. Or the big chain axe will. The paint job came out really nice but I think I might have another go at her base. It is a bit flat and boring for such a central figure in the army.

Sister Salomé

I built her almost exactly as-is from the Triumph kit. I didn’t feel any need to change or add anything, because she is almost perfect for a Dialogous as she is. I built a base for her using cork and some metal granting. I wanted something to fill the base up a bit, so I surrounded her with candles. I set them in Green Stuff to hold them in place but also to make it look they they are melting into the floor, not just standing there.

I still feel there is a bit of work to be done here. The skin tone is a bit off and I must have another bash at her eyes. Oh, and at some point I’ll have to put some decals in her book. The litany cannot be blank!

The Sisters list is really developing now. It’s starting to look like a full army and that is fun.

Genestealers

OK, back to heresy. While I was home for Christmas I was able to pick up a few Necromunda kits for my Genestealers. The Necromunda range is one of the best that GW has ever made and there are so many kit bashing opportunities for Genestealers.

Agent Balza

The new Reductus Saboteur model is epic. It has some mean rules in the game and I just love the idea of a bunch of big, dumb space marines clomping into a building, while somewhere on the other side of the battlefield a lonely figure pushes a button, quips and watches the show.

I had plenty of bits and pieces left over from the Genestealers kits, so I transplanted the arms onto a Delaque body. I cut down the head of a Neophyte so it would fit in the hood and put it together.

I also built a couple of nifty bombs to represent the traps that the Saboteur can place round the battlefield.

Mutants

I built up a couple more mutants to bring the squad up a bit. I’m reasonably happy with them. On paper I loved the idea of using the barrel as an improvised weapon, but my Green Stuff-sculpted tentacles didn’t come out quite as nice as I would have liked. My Green Stuff sculpting still has a very long way to go.

At the other hand, I’m happy the sewer cap. It is a bit of a troll, but given that the sewer cap is made using an official GW paint pot, I guess it is technically legal in a GW tournament.

Necromunda

More loot from home: the old Necromunda bulkheads and the card pieces that fill them. I went for a quick and dirty scheme with these. I was not going to spend time hand-painting each individual panel. Sometimes life is too short. So I sprayed the metal, washed them with sepia, burned umber ink, sometimes mixing in a little green for extra grimness, and dry brushed them with a rusty orange. Then I threw on some weathering products, rust effect and whatnot. I tried out some of the effect paints from Vallejo. I liked their Slimy Grime and Diesel Stains, but found their Engine Grime didn’t do much for me. Then I used a few more of the amazing posters from Underhive art. I try to use them sparingly. It is possible after all to have too much of a good thing.

While the card pieces from the old Necromunda sets are cool, mine are a bit worn out and broken. Also the colour scheme is is a bit bright compared to the other terrain I have. So I wanted to build some of my own from plastic.

The idea is that, just like the originals, they can be modular and clipped together with the bulkhead pieces. I used a thin piece of plastic as the base and on top of that started using some of the trash building techniques that I’ve been playing with. Some things work. The bases are stable and the various dirty industrial paintwork looks good. However, there are areas I need to refine. I need to get better at measuring things and get more precise in my cutting. Also the corrugated cardboard elements don’t work. They are way too fragile and will probably break soon. I need to find some other ways to make railings and barricades for cover.

For now, these are very unambitious starting places just to see if the idea has any legs. I’m going to have a try at some more ambitious builds going forward.